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THIS WEEK'S LETTER...
... is all about looking further afield, both geographically and historically. The ties that bind Australia and France are not always immediately apparent, but as visitors to the new exhibition "Napoleon: Revolution to Empire" (organised by the Fondation Napoléon and the National Gallery Victoria) and the official minisite will find, there has been a great deal of exchange between the two nations. Napoleon III was also keen on widening his horizons, and spent long hours researching early French history, Gaul, and Roman civilisation - as is evident from the trireme experiments that he conducted during his reign. Even a history as seemingly well-known as that of Napoleon Bonaparte offers scope for deeper exploration, as Thierry Lentz explains in his article on the French emperor's little-known memoirs. Indeed, there is always space for improvement on what we know, and both our Waterloo renovation update and the latest objet d'art of the month return to the battlefield this week with new developments in the history of one of the most famous battles of the First Empire. Our 200 years ago text continues its look at a unique occurence in UK history - the assassination of a British prime minister - and 150 years ago reveals surprising prescience regarding the success of the Mexican campaign. And don't forget to explore the right-hand side of the newsletter, where you will find our selection of press clippings, recent publications, and events - including details of a Napoleonic costume weekend taking place in Lucca in two weeks' time.
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FONDATION NAPOLEON NEWS
"Napoleon: Revolution to Empire" exhibition opening soon
The exhibition "Napoleon: Revolution to Empire", jointly organised by the Fondation Napoléon and the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia, opens in just over two weeks. The collection has already left France and arrived on Australian shores, and a new minisite produced to showcase the event is now available. As well as texts introducing the history of Napoleon from Revolutionary beginnings to his imperial reign, there is also a multimedia section, featuring audio and visual presentations of some of the great paintings of the period (including Lejeune's Battle of the Pyramids). Those looking to explore the ties that bind France and Australia will also find much of interest in the "Exploration & Discovery" section. Teachers wanting to prepare their visit to the exhibition (which opens on 2 June) can access a vast wealth of preparatory material tailored to the Victorian curriculum.
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OBJET D'ART OF THE MONTH
"Arithmetical" lock taken from the Imperial Treasury coach
An Imperial treasury coach always accompanied the emperor when he was on campaign. On 7 June 1815, Guillaume Peyrusse, the imperial treasurer, dispatched to the army a paymaster and coach containing one million in gold and 300,000 Francs in bank notes. The coach arrived on campaign and was placed with the Vieille Garde, Napoleon's elite troops. This lock, taken from the coach, features as part of the "Berline de Napoléon. Le mystère du butin de Waterloo" exhibition, currently on display at the Musée national de la Légion d'honneur et des ordres de chevalerie in Paris.
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NAPOLEONIC NEWS
Renovation work at Waterloo begins
Renovation work on the Waterloo battlefield and visitor centre has begun. On 9 May, a press conference was held to announce the finalised project developments and lay the first stone of the new complex. As part of the build-up to the battle's bicentenary events in 2015, a full renovation and reconstruction project has been drawn up, with the aim of restoring the battlefield to a state similar to that in 1815. As well as plans to demolish the current visitor centre, the Wellington Café and a number of other buildings on the site, the Hôtel du Musée will be converted into an extensive catering whilst the Route du Lion and the Rue de la Croix will be narrowed and eventually pedestrianised. A new, subterranean memorial is also planned, and will include a Mur de la Mémoire featuring the names of all regiments - allied and French - that participated in the battle.
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SEEN ON THE WEB
Napoleon III's triremes
Having announced the creation of a new museum dedicated to the entirety of early French history (from the Gauls through to Charlemagne), early spring saw Napoleon III bury himself in his research on Caesar and put his work 'into practice'. This trireme's maiden voyage, launched on the Seine on 9 March 1861, was not particularly inspiring however. Horace de Viel Castel was equally unimpressed, and noted in his journal on 9 May 1862: "The emperor is completely occupied with his work on the Commentaires de César. He has ordered the construction of impractical triremes, ballistae whose rocks cannot even break through a wall twenty centimetres thick, Gaulish and Roman weapons, and has undertaken to transform the Château de St-Germain into a Roman-Gallo museum!" These thoughts were shared by others at the court, who - concerned by the French emperor's archaeological extra-curricular activities - felt that effort would be better spent on actually governing (particularly with papal affairs still not resolved and a Mexican campaign underway). Even the Duc de Persigny, a loyal supporter to the emperor and France's Minister of the Interior at the time, was moved to remark "Rather than writing about a great man, he would be better served presiding over a great reign."
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NAPOLEONICA. LA REVUE
Issue n° 13 available now
Issue thirteen of Napoleonica. La Revue, a historiographically-themed special, features the paper originally presented at the 2012 Consortium on the Revolutionary Era, 1750-1850 by Thierry Lentz. The article offers an introduction to and brief history on an often-ignored contemporary account of the French emperor's reign, that of Napoleon himself.
200 YEARS AGO
The trial and execution of John Bellingham, Spencer Perceval's assassin
The eight-hour trial of John Bellingham began at the Old Bailey, London's Central Criminal Court on Friday 15 May. The jury (made up of messrs Ephraim Lee, Thomas Whittington, Thomas Juggins, William English, James Osborne, John Bellas, Daniel Hayward, John Kennington, Lee Waters, Charles Russell, James King, and George Gaton) deliberated for fifteen minutes and Bellingham was hanged at Newgate a week after having perpetrated his crime. Why did he do it? According to Bellingham's own account read out at his trial, the account of the British minister Lord Leveson Gower (the latter's letter to Castlereagh in his own defence was published in the public papers the day after Bellingham's execution), and the trial proceedings, Bellingham was a merchant who in 1804 lived in Arkangel in Russia. He had somehow become involved in an insurance claim on a shipwreck. The ship owner held Bellingham responsible for Lloyd's non-payment of the insurance and sued him for 2,000 roubles. When Bellingham refused to pay (claiming innocence), the Russian authorities in Arkangel put him in prison. After six years in and out of detention, first in Arkangel and later in St-Petersburg, Bellingham was allowed to return to Britain. During his time in confinement in Russia he had insistently begged the British agents there, Sir Stephen Shairpe and Lord Leveson Gower, to intervene on his behalf, but to no avail. After being released and allowed to quit Russia, he continued his campaign for redress in Britain, here again coming squarely up against official unwillingness to act. Getting no justice from those in power, Bellingham took matters into his own hands, buying pistols, having a special pocket sewn into his coat and shooting the first minister down in cold blood. He never showed remorse for his actions (even hours after being apprehended), claiming that only the death of Leveson Gower could have been more just. He was to go to his execution with equanimity. The swiftness of the trial after the murder and the concern that the mob would intervene in Bellingham's favour (as indeed Leveson Gower's reaction only after Bellingham's death) would imply a government uncertainty as regards public opinion. Great numbers of troops were mobilised for crowd control at the execution (on 18 May) and those standing near the gallows were heard to call out "God bless him! God receive him!" According to Charles Verulam Williams, in his Life of Perceval (1813) "it was evident that by nine tenths of the people, this unfortunate culprit was looked upon more as a meritorious character than a malefactor". And though Whig commentators were to chastise the government with the Bellingham case, they were unable to derive any advantage from the power vacuum. Despite the fact that politically speaking Perceval's passing was not mourned, the Prince Regent nevertheless appointed another Tory, Liverpool, as first minister, and despite attempts to derail it, his government was to lead the country through the better years of 1813 and 1814.
150 YEARS AGO
The task that lay ahead...
The collapse of the tripartite treaty - which had been signed by Spain, France and Britain in advance of the Mexican expedition - in April 1862 had left the French imperial army as the sole nation involved in the campaign. It soon became clear that the situation was not going to be cleared up overnight, as the retreat before the city of Puebla on 5 May demonstrated. On 18 May 1862, the French ambassador in London, Charles de Flahaut, wrote to Edouard Thouvenal, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, expressing serious concerns regarding the future of the campaign.
"It is impossible not to acknowledge - considering the manner in which the affair has been carried out - that the goal set out by the London convention is no more and that in actual fact our commissars intend to overthrow the Juarez government. It is upon this [basis] that General Prim and Sir Charles Wyke [the Spanish and British representatives at the Convention of La Soledad] took the decision to withdraw from the affair.
We thus find ourselves alone against Mexico. Were it simply a matter of obtaining satisfaction for our grievances and the compensation we are due, I should not be worried. But I must admit that I am greatly concerned by the responsibility that we have taken on to overthrow the established government and install another on such unstable ground. Particularly so in the event that the United States successfully extract themselves from their troubles, for they will not fail to direct all the means at their disposal against the monarchy that we shall have established. We shall be obliged to defend it, and that places a most burdensome weight on France..."
Although the United States' involvement would be limited and indirect, Flahaut's concern regarding the burden that lay ahead for France was to prove remarkably prescient.
Wishing you an excellent "Napoleonic" week,
Peter Hicks & Hamish Davey Wright
Historians and web-editors
THE NAPOLEON.ORG BULLETIN, N° 627, 18 - 24 MAY 2012
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© This Napoleon.org weekly bulletin is published by the Fondation Napoléon. Reproduction or all or part of this bulletin is forbidden, without prior agreement of the Fondation Napoléon.
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OPERATION ST HELENA
The Fondation Napoléon and the Souvenir Napoléonien, in association with the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, have announced an international fund-raising campaign to restore and save Napoleon I's residence on the island of St Helena. All the details regarding the campaign as well as donation forms and advice for donating from outside France, can be found on napoleon.org.
FONDATION NAPOLEON ON THE WEB
Each week we offer you a "mystery link" to somewhere on napoleon.org. Click on the link to discover a part of the website you might not have visited before...
MAGAZINE
Just published
- Journal of the Waterloo Campaign, edited by Andrew Uffindell
Press review
- French History June 2012
- Sydney Morning Herald previews "Napoleon: Revolution to Empire"
- The Guardian: "Why Spencer Perceval Had to Die by Andro Linklater – review"
Seen on the web (external links)
- Photo of Napoleon III's trireme under construction
- Sketch of trireme model
EVENTS
On now and coming up
A selection of events taking place now or in the coming weeks, taken from our What's on listings.
Exhibitions
- "La Berline de Napoléon: le mystère du butin de Waterloo", Paris, France [07/03/2012 - 08/07/2012]
Full details
- "Napoleon: Revolution to Empire", Melbourne, Australia [02/06/2012 - 07/10/2012]
Full details
Festivals
- 1812 Napoleonic Weekend, Lucca, Italy [01/06/2012 - 03/06/2012]
Full details
NAPOLEON.ORG
The best of the month:
- Book of the month
- Painting of the month
- Objet d'Art of the month
- Article of the month
NAPOLEONICA.LA REVUE
Available free on Cairn.info
NAPOLEONICA ARCHIVES ONLINE
Napoleonica is currently offline because of maintenance. Please accept our apologies for the interruption.
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